As planner lovers with plenty of ideas for the kind of life we want to live + things we want to do it’s so easy for us to get caught up planning + personalising our planners. While it’s loads of fun, we don’t want it to distract us from doing what matters. So let’s discover the best way to organise your day.

How do we make a plan + set realistic timelines that help us take action?

Separating goals + projects can help you organise your day for success.

Make a plan for action

As enjoyable as it is to personalise our planners, we don’t want to simply make them beautiful to look at with no results to show for it.

As someone who enjoys planning + creating I confront this challenge often. I want to share with you what has helped me, so you can discover the best way to organise your day.

I must confess most time my plans don’t look all that pretty, yet it feels fantastic to see that goal accomplished.

1. Write down all your goals + projects

The first thing to do is make a list of all the goals + projects you have on the go right now or that need you attention. You can also list all the unfinished ones too. It’s time to get them all out of your head an onto paper. You can use the Goals planner page from the Colour Your 365 Project Kit to help you.

Now go ahead and cross off any that you no longer need or want to work on. It’s ok to move on from an unfinished project. It may not be finished but you may be finished with it. There’s no point in planning out something that is no longer relevant.

The difference between goals + projects

Before we dive into what to do with them I want to talk about the difference between goals + projects. Separating these two can help you find the best way to organise your day.

I think of goals as being directly related to our character, our habits. They are about who we are. While projects are things we want to accomplish.

When we added home schooling into our family life I found adjusting to this new season a challenge. How was I going to get done what needed to be done + still do the things that were important to take care of myself? My schedule for the day had changed dramatically.

I found separating the two + dealing with them differently helped me better organise my day.

Mark all the items on your list in some way to separate them into two categories. You might way to use one colour or a symbol to highlight all the goals and another to mark the projects.

Goal Setting

First we’ll take a look at goals. As I mentioned goals are about who we want to be. These are foundational changes, principles we want to live by. They require some form of daily action to have them appear in our life. The more you do them, the more you will be the person you long to be.

2. Complete An Action Plan for your Goals

For each of your goals take an Action Plan page from the Colour Your 365 Project Kit and write down all the things that you would need to be doing for this goal to be a reality in your life. Do a brain dump to get it all out of your head and onto paper. Fill out your motivation, why this is important to you, and a date that you would like to happen. There is a space to write any additional notes about your goal.

For example, you may have a goal of being healthier. To achieve that you may decide you need to be drinking 8 glasses of water each day, exercising for 30 mins daily and get to bed at a time that allows you to have 8 hours sleep. You also note any gym costs or webiste links for exercises and delicious healthy recipies.

3. Set Up a Daily Routine Checklist for Success

The goal to be healthier would be part of your Daily Routine and having a checklist, as in the Colour Your 365 Daily Routine Kit, would be helpful to mark off your progress each day until that action becomes an automatic part of your daily habits + is apart of who you are.

Project Planning

Then we have projects. These are bigger beasts and require a different approach.

There are many tasks that make up a project. These tasks aren’t part of your daily routine, although they do need time allocated on a regular basis if you are going to accomplish them.

4. Complete an Action Plan for your Projects

Take another Action Plan page and do a brain dump. This time list of all the tasks that need to be done for this project. Fill out the motivation, why this is important to complete, and the date you would like to have it finished. There is a space to write any additional details that are important to the project, like costs, material or other people involved in the project.

This is where I take a different approach when it comes to projects.

5. Batch Project Tasks

The next step for your project is to see if there are any like actions or tasks that can be batched together. Batching tasks to do together helps save a lot of time that it takes for you complete a project.

Next have a look over your list to see if there is a specific sequence or phases that tasks need to be done in. This will help when it comes time to plan your action. You may want to number the tasks in phases that can be outlined on the Project Focus page in Colour Your 365 Projects Kit.

6. Plan Out Your Project Tasks

Once you have your project outlined + organised, you simply need to schedule the time in your day to achieve them.

Plan out your tasks with the Schedule planner pages in the Colour Your 365 Projects Kit or you can use your Today, Week or Month planner pages from the Colour Your 365 Planner Kit.

By scheduling your time you will know what you have time for + how you are going to get it done. Knowing that you have time allocated to achieve your goals + projects reduces the overwhelm.

Finishing Strong

One of the most important + often overlooked parts of achieving your goals + projects is to do a review.

7. Do a Weekly Review

You can use the Progress Log page in the Colour Your 365 Project Kit if you’d like to do this journaling style, or simply use the notes space on the Schedule or Weekly planner spread.

Taking a small amount of time each week to review how your progress gives you a chance to adjust your plan if needed + most importantly to celebrate your progress.

If you need to give an update in a meeting on where different projects are up to, the the Progress Check Up planner page in the Project Kit will be helpful.

Building Momentum

Having too many goals + project on the go at the same time can be overwhelming. It also makes progress slower.

When you have a lot of goals and projects on your list try beginning with one goal + one project.

As you gain momentum + make progress you may want to add more goals + projects or simply enjoy the pace of working through one at a time.

Now that you have a way to keep from getting stuck in the planning phase, shop the Colour Your 365 planner printables + start today.

Enjoy seeing results as you accomplish your goals + projects!

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